A Smithsonian of One's Own

By

Jacques Kelly

Updated Aug. 5, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

In Flagrante Collecto By Marilynn Gelfman Karp Abrams, 367 pages, $60

Marilynn Gelfman Karp seems to wince when forced to throw anything away. And to assuage her conscience she has saved an awful lot of her physical life -- all the way back to childhood Dixie cup lids (showing Ann Miller in MGM's "Hit the Deck") and sets of fancy book matches that her father used to light his pipe.